An open letter to the open letter writers of the left

Dear American Left,

I know why Bush won.  I know why you lost.  No, not just lost...were rejected.  I know exactly why, and we’ll get to that in a minute.  First, though, just let me say this: If you think that spewing hate and invective on me now is going to make your life improve in any way whatsoever, you are a bigger group of fools than anyone imagined.  If you think calling me more names is going to get you what you want in this country, you are not just acting foolish, you are delusional and maybe your hatred is more than just a little self-oriented.  The reason I say “I” here instead of “we” or “The GOP” is because I want you to understand something so basic, so fundamental that I am ashamed for you that I have to spell it out.

I am the Republican Party.

Oh, I may not be a majority of the party yet.  I am strongly in favor of gay marriage and completely against most of the pro-life points of view (for reasons that transcend the circular discussion of when life begins).  This makes me an outsider for the moment, not part of the mainstream of the GOP.

But my numbers are growing.  And my age is a factor.  You see, the old guard of the Republican party is quite literally dying, and we, the younger members, are moving up.  It won’t be long before we are a majority influence and can turn the party back toward preserving the ideals of smaller government, less interference in both business and private life.  I believe it is possible to embrace both traditional and progressive values.  I do it every day.  I believe that it is possible to hold our military up as the primary reason the federal government exists and still manage to protect the rights of two people who wish to legally share their lives, and I will work within my party to make that happen.

I am the Republican Party.  Or more appropriately, I am the future of the Republican Party.  And if you think keeping me on your side is worth anything, you might want to re-think the idea of calling me a bigot or a Nazi or spewing hatred at me.  Your ideals were soundly rejected, and if you stopped whining long enough to ask, some of us can tell you why.  Part of why you don’t know is the fact that you haven’t stopped whining in the last four years.  The steady stream of hate, lies and vitriol from the American left has hardened the American right in ways you can’t begin to imagine.  You tempered us.  You forged us in the fire of your hate, and you made us stronger than we every could have without your steady litany of bile and complaint.

I’ll give you a perfect, shining example of why you lost.  His name is Michael Moore.

Before Moore burst forth with his theories of 9/11 conspiracies, “seven minutes,” blood for oil, Taliban pipelines etc., very little actual criticism was levied at Bush beyond the misguided notion that something errant happened in Florida.  If Moore did not exist, I believe that cooler heads would have realized that a never-ending flow of recounts all proved one thing: Bush won.  Period.  And we would have moved forward.  9/11 would still have happened and we might have had a chance at keeping some of that unity we all felt, but along came Moore, and in tow came the most extreme elements of the American left.  Bolstered by the Hollywood liberal, the MoveOn/Democratic Underground lunatic, the darkest fringes of radical American liberalism were given credence simply by being a market share.  Fine...free markets are great.  Moore has a message, you provided an audience, money was exchanged.

But then you started taking those messages into the political arena as though they had validity.  And most of America looked at you like you just grew a third eye right in front of them.  And still you persisted, getting more and more hateful, telling more lies, spinning out-of-context elements and juxtaposing any and every situation in order to try to hammer home your talking points.  No matter what the discussion, you brought it back to one of Moore’s talking points.  If the topic did not fit your need, you forced it, or just ignored it altogether and ranted away.

You never stopped for a minute to consider the fact that you might be wrong.  And yet that very behavior is one of the greatest criticisms of Bush by the new radical left.  Ironic, I think.

You took this new radicalism so far that your candidate for President, a man who is guided by polls, took a look around and said “Oh, I get it.  There is energy around this new radical hate of the President.  I will base my message not only around my questionable service, but around this new radical hatred, even if most of it is baseless or contradicts what I said just six or twelve months ago.”

Make no mistake, people, two things lost you this election.  First it was your incessant need to spew vile invective at anyone who did not think like you, and secondly, like Nader in 2000, you have one man to thank, and his name is Michael Moore.

As proof of the lack of class, take a look at his site today.  As of this writing, that filthy excuse for a human being has replaced all his crowing and self-righteousness with a photo of Bush made up of the first 1000 soldiers that died in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I know, from VERY personal letters that I will be sharing with everyone soon, that at minimum, 75% of the people pictured in this photo hate Moore.  They cannot stand him and would be deeply offended and disgusted at being used in such a manner.

I see that he doesn’t care, and to be honest, I bet you don’t either.  And that’s another reason why you lost.  You ignored the voices of those who would die to protect you.

Let me say that again in a different way.  There are a few million men and women who have volunteered to give thier very lives to protect you.  Can you even grasp the enormity of that concept?  After 9/11, knowing there was going to be a military response, hundreds of thousands of people volunteered to join the military to defend you.  TO protect you.  To take whatever action they could to try to prevent your death in another terrorist attack.  They are willing to die for you, and you ignored them.  You treated them like mindless pawns.  You used them and then tried to elect a man that has betrayed them time and time again.

Do you have any idea how that must feel?

Regardless of your position on Iraq, whether it was warranted or not, they have a position, and that position is overwhelmingly in support of Bush, the idea of the war, the execution of the war and the goal to stay until the work is finished.  And you ignored them. Worse, you ridiculed them.  You called them “kids” and “children.” You painted them as bloodthirsty savages hell-bent on murder and sadism when you heard that a small number of individuals did some pretty nasty things to some prisoners.  They never forgot that, you know.

And that brings it back to the hate and bile that poured forth from the left.  The hate and bile that is still pouring out today, perhaps at an even greater rate.

I spent all night last night blogging the election...reading websites, tracking data, reading other blogs, talking about it, watching TV, etc.  This morning, while I was still awake after the long run, I was both smug with the win and giddy with relief that we avoided electing a man I have come to despise, and I threw it right in the face of some people on another website.  To that person; If you’re reading this, I apologize for my tone.  Not my content.  You still have some lessons you need to learn, and if you want to move out of the country because of this...more power to you.  I don’t believe you will.  But that doesn’t excuse the way I spoke to you, and for that I apologize.

Something that person (and the rest of you to whom this letter is addressed) is going to have to learn is that telling me I’m stupid, a racist, a bigot, or whatever else you may come up with is going to result in exactly one thing; further marginalizing you as a political power in America.  What you need is me as your ally.  Your inside man.  Someone who will fight you on a lot of issues, but will also fight for you on others.  Why?

Because I am the Republican Party.  And right now, we control the game.  If you want to play, you need to re-think this idea that throwing tantrums will get you on the field.

Talk to me.  Treat me with respect.  And you just might find yourself with the most powerful ally you can imagine: someone who shares a vision of a more free, more perfect America.

*UPDATE*

Some people seem to have missed my entire point.

Look at it not as a political issue, or a moral issue or a social issue or anything else but a practical issue.  The fact is, if the American left wants to make a difference in America in the next four years, you do not have a choice except to deal with Republican control.  That’s the fact.  Complain all you want, but that is the way it is.

Do you think namecalling is going to change it?  Will it make it easier to get your ideas heard?  Will it make it easier to get yor ideas into law?  Of course it won’t.  That’s a pretty stupid premise.  When you want something from someone, do you berate and scream at them, or do you ask?  What do we teach children, to throw tantrums, or to ask nicely?  WHat method do you prefer to be used on you, threats, tantrums and vicious personal attacks, or a request for civil conversation and a sharing of ideas with the goal of reaching an accord?

As a matter of consistency, how is it that the American left will literally march in protest over the United States not using diplomacy, and yet are physically incapable of using diplomacy to deal with the right?  Doesn’t that just scream “hypocrite?”

To address another issue; No, I’m not a spokesman for the GOP.  But someday I will be. If not the GOP, then some other form of conservative movement that will be in control.  And my memory for things like who has attacked and berated and browbeat me is long, my friend.  Very, very long.  Especially for people who attack me for things in which I do not believe without even a moment’s hesitation to hear my point of view.  I do not believe it is in my nature, nor the nature of others, to simply take abuse and reward the abuser.  That behavior is considered an illness in this country.

Yet another mistake I feel some have made in interpreting what I wrote is that I declared Moore some kind of kingmaker.  No...Moore wanted to be a kingmaker and failed because his message is too full of lies and insanity to appeal to moderate Democrats.  However, that did not stop the leadership of the party from adoptying his rhetoric of lies.  By choosing to adopt Moore’s litany of deceptions, the Democrats also galvanized the right into a stronger force than they have been in decades.  Basically, Moore promised you the moon, and what you got was a cheap card with a picture of the moon on it and a note inside that read “Yeah, I failed, but you paid me millions, so screw you.”

Oh and can we drop the “revolution” nonsense?  As a practical matter, you couldn’t possibly pull off a revolution.  We own the guns and the military.  It was brought up in the comments to this post and it’s not anywhere NEAR the first time I have seen that in the last 48 hours.  It makes me laugh every time.  It also IMMEDIATELY makes me think the writer is a Grade-A idiot for even suggesting it.

If you would be willing to revolt over one election, you’re not someone who should be taken seriously.  On any level.  But that doesn’t matter...what are you gonna revolt with?  Spitballs?  As for legal secession...go ahead and try.  No blue area of the country can sustain itself.  Too many people, not enough actual production.  Stop playing martyr, stop playing victim, stop spewing hate and calm the hell down.  Take a breath, admit that the country is much more conservative than the you wanted to admit, and let’s find ways to compromise.  That will never happen while you are busy calling me “fucking stupid” and “a goddamned redneck” and all the other vile things I keep seeing.

The harsh reality of, for the next four years, we *don’t* need a consensus.  The Republicans can, if they so chose, run the country with absolutely zero input from the parts of the left that refuse to tone it down.  Should they?  No.  Can they?  You bet your ass.  That’s a wake-up call for the American left.

Someone should answer the damned phone.

Posted by JimK at 07:27 PM on November 03, 2004
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Categories: Personal,  Things To Ponder,  Politics